Abstract
Rats were reinforced with water for every bar-press and concurrently punished for every 10th or 20th bar-press. Punishment produced an initial suppression of responding followed by recovery. A slight change in the method of delivering punishment eventually led to a high response rate just after punishment, a low response rate just before punishment, and frequent intermediate pauses. The results are interpreted as showing that punishment became a safe signal and that the high rate of responding it released came to act as a conditioned aversive stimulus. The effects of amphetamine were consistent with this interpretation. Alcohol had the paradoxical effect of increasing pauses and depressing the low rate before punishment.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- AZRIN N. H., HOLZ W. C., HAKE D. F. Fixed-ratio punishment. J Exp Anal Behav. 1963 Apr;6:141–148. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1963.6-141. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- BRADY J. V. A comparative approach to the evaluation of drug effects upon affective behavior. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1956 Nov 16;64(4):632–643. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1956.tb36837.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- CONGER J. J. The effects of alcohol on conflict behavior in the albino rat. Q J Stud Alcohol. 1951 Mar;12(1):1–29. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- FOWLER H., MILLER N. E. FACILITATION AND INHIBITION OF RUNWAY PERFORMANCE BY HIND- AND FOREPAW SHOCK OF VARIOUS INTENSITIES. J Comp Physiol Psychol. 1963 Oct;56:801–805. doi: 10.1037/h0044305. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- HUNT H. F., BRADY J. V. Some effects of punishment and intercurrent anxiety on a simple operant. J Comp Physiol Psychol. 1955 Aug;48(4):305–310. doi: 10.1037/h0042529. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- MILLER N. E., BARRY H., 3rd Motivational effects of drugs: Methods which ilustrate some general problems in psychopharmacology. Psychopharmacologia. 1960 Feb 12;1:169–199. doi: 10.1007/BF00402740. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]